Eternal death and damnation is the eternal punishment promised to all those that leave this earth without the forgiveness of their sins. It is that place prepared for those who do not accept His marvelous salvation through His unending grace. Thinking that such a place does not exist or that a loving God would not place one of His children there does not alleviate or eliminate its existence or reality. Our knowledge of hell, as is with all knowledge, is from God; and He alone will determine its final outcome. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. and if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:43-48. Think for a moment of the awfulness of these words, to spend an eternity in total pain and misery, away from the One who created you. I know I could never explain the awfulness of hell, but as I could never truly explain how terrible it would be,
I could never, with a clear conscience, ever say that it doesn’t exist. Imagine, no more hope, no more opportunity, nothing but regret, cursing the day that you refused His marvelous salvation. Pretending you were not informed or did not understand what you have just read, will offer you no reprieve. Reality is what it is: reality. It is a blessing that you have been warned and given another opportunity to reverse evil’s triumph. I know in my heart that it is real, but for those who sneer at its reality, I pray for your enlightenment.
The Bible tells us that hell was created for Satan and his angels, but all men that reject Him will also be cast there. Rejecting Him is not just an acknowledged denial of Him and all that a He has done. You are rejecting Him when you do not verbally invite Him into your heart and ask for His forgiveness. Salvation is having a personal relationship with a personal God. Expecting to receive God’s forgiveness is more than just being good and not causing too many problems. I have often heard it said that, “I am just as good as the next person, so I don’t feel I need to worry”. Salvation in your life is not determined by what someone else has done, other than God’s perfect Son, and to place your eternal security upon the actions of any other, is completely hopeless. If you are unwilling to ask God for His forgiveness, then He has said that He will be unwilling to share His kingdom with you. To get into heaven, God must have met you while here on earth. To get into heaven, you must become one of His children. In today’s society, the entire truth is intentionally forgotten or left unexpressed. The reasoning was that it would be wrong to displease or confront, but so much of the time, it was really left unspoken out of fear or a lack of personal integrity. You don’t want to upset anyone, but using this rationale, it is okay to send his or her soul to hell. True love for a brother demands that the entire truth be given; to hold back or tame down what should be said is only evidence of unconcern. Being politically correct is nothing more than a lack of honesty or resolve. It has long been required in many circles that hell-fire-and-damnation style preaching be restricted, and a more gentle, sane approach be given. If we were talking about the medical profession, it would be like your doctor no longer willing or being allowed to give you appropriately powerful medicines and choosing to substitute sugar pills. You might survive for a while, but as the illness progressed, you would surely die. Once the doctor’s practice of substituting sugar pills was found out, he would be exposed as a fraud and his license would be revoked. Letting his patients die would be considered gross negligence, and he would be prosecuted appropriately. When we compare physical death with spiritual death, you can begin to understand the gravity of this example. No one wants to die physically, but missing the things this world provides is extremely small when you compare them to spending eternity in extreme torture. For your physical illness, the doctor, in some cases, could not prescribe you an adequate cure; and, many times, could not even make a proper diagnosis. Not so in spiritual matters; the diagnosis is always positive, and the cure is 100 percent effective.
You don’t believe? You will then, because that is the reason you will be in hell; it will be because of your disbelief. It really doesn’t take much common sense to believe there is a God. I can still hear my mother asking me, “Son! Do you have your lessons done?” And I am sure the response was, “Yes, Ma,” whether true or not. As I think about it now, a little studying can, as then, provide a lot of knowledge. It is the same today as it has always been. If you open-mindedly take the time to dwell upon the existence of God, with all the evidence available, you will come to the conclusion that God does exist. It takes more effort or work to prove He does not exist than to accept His existence, and then there still persists the question, Am I right? Most individuals approach the idea of God and His existence from a negative stance and, therefore, already have it settled in their minds before they consider Him. Once you come to the conclusion that there is a God, that He does exist, then you must determine what you will do with Him; and for many, this just complicates things. I have heard it said that church and Sunday school is for young people or children; and when you get older, there isn’t time for that nonsense anymore, or it has become irrelevant. The true reality is that the older you become the less sensitive you are to those things of a spiritual nature. The older you become the more you need God. The evil lifestyle has buried you beneath a load of deception and seemingly unforgivable circumstances. You doubt the ability of God and dismiss His desire to save. The devil has convinced you that you are unworthy, and everything is not really as bad as it seems to be. Doing your own thing, not being responsible to anyone just seems to simplify life, and who wants to make life difficult, right?
Wrong! In life, there happens to be this thing called reality. Reality is life and death, pain and pleasure, good and bad, righteous and evil; they all exist, and you cannot wish any of them away. In essence, life is already difficult or complex, and to deal with a situation, disregarding its governing factors, is not a solution and will not bring you a desirable reaction or response. In my childhood, they would refer to it as viewing things through rose-colored glasses or from a distorted or predetermined view. Many knew the wise thing to do but put it off until the last minute, hoping to have the best of both worlds. They say that they must sow their wild oats and when they are finished, they will settle down, but many never do. It is true that, in our youth, we experience things in a more accepting, uneducated way; and we are then also more prone to experiment or do things that are foolish and destructive. I have heard adults quip, “They”,—referring to their children,—“have to learn it somehow.” Living an evil lifestyle is not just your time to have fun, and having to do without those perversions will not cause you to lose. It is foolish to think that all of life has been predetermined and you have been given a checklist that you must follow. It amazes me how Hollywood promotes itself as the ultimate success when it takes its members and meticulously grinds them into the evil perversions of hell itself. To them, it is only paying your dues; but to the one who is being destroyed, it is taking away all that is precious and valuable. For the many who follow, it is setting an example that will cause them to also be destroyed. What is the true merit or wealth that is gained, as the Bible puts it, in the selling of your soul?
I do not accept the notion that life’s problems and difficulties must be experienced before they can be learned or applied, and many times, difficulties could have been avoided if those concerned would have been more dedicated and knowledgeable. Being a parent, I know I have failed many times, but I find that excusing my shortcomings does not justify them and that the suffering I caused my child was not taken away. Teaching children about Jesus and how He loves them and cares for them does not make them worthless or a wimp. Jesus will build their character and instill good moral values within them. So many of the things we should do, as parents, are left undone because of our lack of responsibility or concern. In reality, we, as a society, have allowed the evil of this world to pervert our thoughts and drive the agenda. A soul lost is gone forever, and there is no amount of reasoning or penitence that will ever undo its terror. The devil has distorted, lied, and even killed, but we still find time to listen and obey him. His intent is to take our souls to hell with him, and nothing will stop his evil agenda, save that of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, the precious Lamb of God. Where do we find time to ramble or to waste? How do we sympathize or give place to those things that are evil and corrupt? I know I have often failed, but I pray that God will remove all evil from within me and use me more each day. Being a child of God is not a loss but a gain. I have gained true peace knowing that I will no longer be condemned to hell.
If you have ever been acquainted with a devoted saint of God, the one thing evident in their life is their total dependence and faith in the one in whom they believe. These are not people who have been deluded or sold a bill of goods; these are sincere, open-minded people who have met the Master face to face. The world might call them fanatics, extremists, but in their own hearts and minds, they are only holding onto the one thing that can guarantee their eternal security. Their God is real, He is without reproach, and He is worth dying for. All who are lost have dedicated their futures to the evil one: Satan. How is it that, in their minds, it is foolish to live for a just cause or purpose? Why does there decision to refuse God’s forgiveness make God the fool and them the victor? How has Satan become more righteous than God, or why is serving Satan to be more desirable? Would they be willing to die for Satan? In reality, that doesn’t matter because the choice is not available to them; they will one day be called to die for him. There will no longer be an opportunity to live because, with Satan, that is not an option; he is only about death and eternal doom.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” And the King shall answer and say unto them, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, “Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.” Then shall they also answer him, saying, “Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?” Then shall he answer them, saying, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matthew 25:31-46
To swear allegiance to the one true and righteous God is, in my opinion, exercising your common sense. True Christians are intelligent, genuine, real, personable, caring individuals who, the same as every other person in this world, have problems, difficulties, concerns, and desires. The only really important difference in the lives of these individuals is their dependence upon the only one who can truly make a difference in their lives. Knowing the bitterness of Satan and his power to deceive, they have placed the security of their souls in the hands of the only one that can guarantee their eternal safety. These are people who daily experience true peace and joy in their lives as they look to the one who has promised them His eternal protection. The one significant thing they all have in common is that they do not doubt or question their faith in God or in the truth of His existence. They might ask God to increase their faith or to give them more faith, but they all have enough conviction and confidence to trust in their salvation. Once you’ve truly been saved, there’s no going back. The peace and joy you receive in your heart is answer enough for all the pain and misery that you must endure while here on earth. This is only for the here and now. If salvation were only a solution for the problems and grief of this world only, it would be considerable, but it lasts for eternity. As the previous Bible reference, the many saved have been given the blessed hope to one day hear, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:4).
I do not have enough time or desire to waste on the lies of an evil world. I would not spend another moment at my desk writing, if I did not believe it to be important and necessary. My life here on earth is soon to be over, but I am not frightened. I love my family and would miss them, but I know that one day we will all meet again in a much better place. I am at peace knowing that God is in control. My only true concern is that so many in this world need to know that a gracious God loves them and wants to save them. It is inconceivable to me that anyone would choose to go to hell, but so many seem not to care. People spend more time writing a grocery list than thinking about where they will spend eternity. They are concerned about their physical life but do nothing about their spiritual condition. Life is precious, but life in the physical realm is not eternal. (Maybe that is why it is so precious.) Everyone has experienced the loss of a friend or family member; we are made aware of death every day. Each day we live is one day closer to the end, but in the life of man, that end will only prove to be the beginning. How do you compare the short time we are here on earth with eternity? Why do we make something so easy so difficult? By accepting a loving Savior, every doubt will be put to rest. Accepting a loving Savior will abolish every damning fear. God is real, His promises are sure, and He will take all those who believe in Him to His home above. Do not be deceived; as sure as there is a heaven, there is a hell. God has created two places in which souls will enter after physical death. He has also given you the opportunity to choose the one that will be your final destination. He created hell for the devil and his angels, and heaven was created for all who trust in Him (Matthew 25,41). When you think about it, it is very simple. God considers all who trust in him as being a part of His family. Being in the family of God has certain privileges while refusing to accept Him will send you to hell. Do you not think that your life is worth saving? The only way to win is through believing in God and what His Son has willingly done for you on the cross. “For he saith, ‘I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation’” (2 Corinthians 6:2).